October 11, 2011

I've had so many requests for these canning recipes, that I think it will be easier to post them here and refer people to this post ;) Here are all the recipes I use for canning tomatoes...

Please note that these are all recipes. When I actually can my tomatoes, I use what is ripe...sometimes it is much more than the recipe, or much less. I don't follow the recipes exactly, but more as a guideline. I just keep an open mind and taste the sauces along the way. Because of varrying amounts, I am not able to tell you exactly how many pints/quarts each recipe makes. Also, please note that these are old recipes passed down over the years. New canning reccomendations state that modern varieties of tomatoes do not contain high amounts of acid as they did in the past. This puts you at risk for botulism poisoning. My grandmother and I have canned thousands of jars of tomatoes using these recipes, and never once had a problem. Modern canning guidelines suggest adding 1 Tbs. per pint or 2 Tbs. per quart of lemon juice to help bring up acidity levels. This does not change the flavor of the finished product, and will help protect you from the possibility of botulism forming in your jars, because it cannot form under high acidity levels. My suggestion would be to follow the recipes below, and add the lemon juice straight to your jars before filling them with your finished product.

Instructions for Peeling Tomatoes

Canned Stewed Tomatoes Recipe

1. Start by selecting ripe tomatoes from your garden. I usually pick all of the ripe tomatoes out of my garden and then sit them in a basket on my cupboard for a few days, allowing them to get really ripe. This will give you much more flavor and sweetness in your stewed tomatoes.

2. Once you have a decent amount of ripe tomatoes, wash them all.

3. Place a large pot of water on the stove over high heat and bring to a boil.

4. Clean out both sides of your sink. Fill one side full of cold water.

5. Now you need to remove the tomato skins. Skins do not preserve well, so you will need to remove them. Place a strainer over a bowl and place next to your pot. Take 7-8 tomatoes at a time and drop them all into the boiling water. Let them boil until the skin cracks, or a minute-a minute and a half have passed. If the skin does not crack, remove it anyways and place in the strainer using a slotted spoon. Once you have removed all of the tamatoes from the water, place more tomatoes in the boiling water and dump the ones from the strainer into the sink of cold water. Repeat until all tomatoes have been in the boiling water and then placed in cold sink water.

6. Remove skins from tomatoes...they should come right off after the boiling process. You should be able to peel them right off. I just do it over the sink and throw all of the skins in the sink, and clean them out when I'm done. Peel all of the tomatoes and place them in a clean bowl.

7. Place a large empty pot on the stove and turn on low heat. Rough chop eat tomato into bite sized pieces. They don't have to be perfect. Trasfer to the pot as your cutting board gets full. Don't waster the tomato juice...it adds wonderful flavor. Repeat until all tomatoes have been chopped, and tomatoes and juice are all in the pot. Turn heat up to medium low and start adding seasoning. I like to add plenty of salt, pepper and then some celery salt. I also add a tiny bit of sugar to bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes. I usually add a half cup, but I make a HUGE pot...so you'll want to play around with seasonings until it tastes good, depending on how much you're making. Add a few Tbs. of lemon juice. Some people like to add chopped onions and celery at this point, but I prefer to just have the tomatoes plain because I like to add them to so many different recipes. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

8. Transfer tomatoes into clean canning jars. Leaving at least 1/2" head space at the top of jar. Wipe rims clean and place lid and ring on top. Tighten.

9. Process jars in a hot water bath. For those of you who aren't canners...this is the large canning pot (not a pressure cooker). You fill it with enough water to cover all of the jars when submerged, and then you bring it to a roaring boil. Once the boiling starts, you put the lid on and allow the jars to boil. Quarts should process 35-40 minutes and pints 25-30 minutes.

My secret to processing large batches, is using an outdoor camp stove with extra large canning pots. I can keep the heat outside during the hot summer, and I can also process 20 quarts at once, which really saves a lot of time...

10. Once they are done processing, remove from heat and allow to cool. If the seal pops downward, you're good to go. Immediately use or discard any of the jars that do not seal.

11. Use your stewed tomatoes...here is just a quick list of how I use my stewed tomtaoes...

-poured over cooked macaroni

-tomato macaroni soup (this is an old fashioned family favorite at our house. the recipe came from my great grandma. I will have to share the recipe sometime)

-poured over seasoned chicken breasts in the crock pot (this is one of Grace's favorite meals)

-poured over a seasoned roast in the crock pot

-in homemade chili and vegetable soup

-in tortilla and taco soup

-blended and added to homemade salsa

-baked macaroni & cheese with stewed tomatoes

-you can use them to make pasta sauce...you just need to simmer it long enough to thicken it up

-You can blend it and make homemade tomato soup

-you can basically use it in any recipe that calls for stewed tomatoes, canned tomatoes, or diced tomatoes

Bring to boil in large stock pot and simmer for 25 minutes. Fill jars and seal while still hot. Put in boiling water bath 35 minutes for pints, 45 minutes for quarts. Water should be boiling when you put the bottles in, and should cover the bottles at least 1”.

-3 large cans tomato paste (regular soup can size, or 5-6 of the mini cans)

Combine all ingredients in large pot on stove. Simmer for about 3-4 hours until moisture is cooked out and sauce thickens. When sauce is done, transfer to jars and seal. Process for 25 minutes in a hot water bath.

first timer here, i followed recipe for tomatoes cut up put in jar and hot water bat for 45 minutes, they are beautiful but stewed tomatoes is what i wanted, can i open the previous cans and redo them. im told to boil them for stewed tomatoed, what do you thik of opening the jars up and putting in pot to boil? they were done 3 days ago. thanks

I enjoy reading your blog and am quite envious of your life! If I didn't have to work a full time job I think I would be living just like you. Thanks for the recipes, as I will be trying all of your tomato recipes as soon as the tomatoes start to come in! I'll let you know how they came out!!

Love your blog!
All of your recipes look awesome!
Made your stewed tomatoes recipe twice now with great results both times.
Have such a bountiful crop of tomatoes I will certainly be using more of your tantalizing recipes yet before summer is finished.

Thanks for all the recipes for the tomatoes that I canned. I am going to try pico de gallo this year with all that I have. Love your water baby sandals, I have a few pair. My kids wore them growing up. I love them. We just made some tomato veggie juice and freeze it. We love it and it goes really fast around here. It is great to have a BIG garden but it takes lot's of time to can and use all of it up when there's only two of us. Thanks again for everything you put on here.

I made several pints of these using your suggestion of tomatoes, salt, pepper, celery salt, and a little sugar (I used Truvia since I'm diabetic). Just used my first jar this past week in homemade veggie soup - it was delicious!! After jarring up all the tomatoes, I had quite a bit of juice left in the pot so I canned it separately for the BEST tomato juice ever. Thanks so much - already looking forward to next year's harvest.

I have been searching all morning for "this" recipe! Have looked at so many and they just weren't what I was looking for. And then I found yours! Thanks so much for sharing! Cool weather has found it's way here and soon we'll have a good frost. Time to pick the surplus of tomatoes that are still hanging on! Thanks again! Can't wait to try it this weekend!!

Thanks for sharing ! I have canned before lots of times but with my mother , she passed away last October and I am lost for the prossesing time times for salsa and whole tomatoes this helped a lot , I need to pin for next year , missing my mother more and more every day.

First time canning salsa. 9 pints 2 quarts. All jars sealed. When I opened the first jar I apparently added to much sugar and not enough pepper flakes. Si I re-canned all of it after adding peeper flakes. It now tastes like it should. However I've had people tell me re-canning the salsa is unsafe and some haver said it was ok. Can u help me with this

this is my first garden I put in 70 odd tomato plants. I going to give the spaghetti sauce a try. since I got a pressure canner I will try to pressure can it and hope I don't blow myself or my house up.

Is it possible to can a home made cioppino made with tomato based vegetable juice cocktail,tomato paste,onions, garlic, herbs, wine olive oil, and various fish and shellfish. It has been cooked before freezing. Need the space in our 5th wheel freezer before we head south. Thank you for your time. Enjoyed tour web site mucho.Will be back BEFORE harvest next year!

I love your website. I core them before the hot water bath to remove the skins. It is also a good way to watch and remove blemeshes. Also saves on having to handle the hot tomatoes for too long. I am interested in how to make the spaghetti sauce thicker. Any ideas?

Just finished my batch of spaghetti sauce! Amazing!! This is my go to recipe from here on out! Lost my other but did not compare to this flavor· Modified a tad...but thank you!!
-- Veggie rich in Boise

Hi there. Just making your spaghetti sauce now, and it smells divine - however, I'm not sure about the tomato paste. You say 3 cans (12 oz). Did you mean 3 12 oz cans, or did you mean 3 small cans, totalling 12 oz.? thanks for the help!

This is my first year to can tomatoes, and when I hot water bathed them I only did it for 10 minutes instad of the 25+ minutes. I heard all the lids pop, my question is, will they be OK or do I need to redo them?

Love your blog and all the amazing photos!!!! We recently moved from city to farm and this is my first garden harvest! I'm excited but nervous!!!
I'm going to can stewed tomatoes with your awesome recipe!
With the tomato sauce recipe or salsa with veggies, everyone has told me not to can them in a water bath, but i have to use a pressure cooker because of bacteria. What do you suggest? I have a water bath canner, but I usually freeze my sauce because of what i've heard. Any suggestions and help would be soooo appreciate!!!

Jenny C. | August 14, 2013 at 09:07 AM (and others). I too used to fret about botulism and the dire warnings from the CDC. Have you actually gone to the CDC and checked the FACTS re canning and botulism? I recommend people do. Most recent figures I could find were for 2010.

In 2010 there were 9 people in the US who got botulism. FIVE of these were in Alaska, with 4 believed to be associated with the same canning episode where seal blubber was poorly canned (2 definitely and the others possibly but not proven) and a fifth being from canned stinkheads. The remaining four were isolated canning incidents where people had not followed the CDC canning guidelines. Now extrapolate these numbers to the millions of people who can...

Essentially, as long as you ensure the jars are clean, the lids and bands are good, and the contents go in at the right temperature and acidity, you are good to go. i.e. if you do dumb stuff and do not follow guidelines you WILL get botulism. e.g. you have some fresh garlic cloves and decide to add these and some homemade, sun-dried, tomatoes to the organic olive oil... you are simply asking for trouble... UNLESS... you are able to ensure the correct acidity of the ingredients.... which is tricky. For most things, you are good to go.

Question: I've always been told not to add too many veggies to my tomato sauce because it affects the acidity of the final product, which can lead to botulism poisoning. I notice you use a lot of veggies in your sauce, so what are your thoughts on botulism risk?
I make a pretty bland recipe of tomato sauce and then add all the yummy stuff after I open the jar to prepare it for my family.

I know that this is an old post, however, I just found it while doing a search for stewed tomatoes. I'm so happy I found your recipe! It's exactly like the way my great-grandmother used to make hers! It was so delicious! I used to love it when she served it over mashed potatoes! Yummm!

I used to throw out all the peels until one day I looked at all the peels from 120 lbs of tomatoes and thought, what a waste! Hence, I put them through my food processor and realized that must be where "tomato paste" comes from! I dumped them Back into my tomato sauce and it naturally thickened up my soup/spaghetti base sauce!

About how long do you think the canned stewed tomatoes would last when processed correctly? I have canned a few times but mainly just strawberry freezer jam... really interested in canning a lot more. Thank u very much!!

Fantastic spaghetti sauce. Tangy, sweet and spicy. Representing the guy canners here. Just finished a batch fresh out of the garden. I will be trying the molasses cookies tomorrow. Thank you for bringing home mom's pantry from long ago.

Im curious about the previous question about the lemon juice, also. I have NEVER canned before, and I'm going for it this year! I've been reading here and there for recipes and methods, and yours is the only one that did NOT call for lemon juice... can I leave it out, and if so, why do so many others add it?
GREAT post, thanks for all the info! Wish me luck!!!! :)

Last week tried your stewed tomato recipe using a variety of tomatoes from my aunt's garden. I made 4 pints - 3 of which were sealed by the time I pulled them out of the water bath. (the 4th had to be refrigerated since it never did seal). Will these be ok? Also, I just read the other night that lemon juice or another acidifier needs to be added to lower the ph since some newer tomato varieties don't have as low of a ph. Is there a reason you don't add an acidifier?

we have a family recipe that includes tomatoes, canola oil and peppers, basically stewed together for a few hours. we'd like to can it but i'm seeing on some sites that the oil can be a problem for canning, then I noticed one of your recipes has oil in it. HELP. Your site is gorgeous as are you! thanks for your insight. I'm new to canning and excited to get started!

Thanks so much for the awesome post! Just a quick question, on the water baths are you putting the jars in and bringing them up to a certain temperature and then processing them for the length of time?:)

I was searching for a recipe to can pasta sauce with fresh tomatoes. I gotta say, these recipes sound really delicious. I didn't want to have to buy the mixes that are available at the grocery stores. I will try these. Thank you so much for posting your recipes.

I agree with other comments posted , I wish I can see you while doing all your cooking and daily activities.You must look like the Wonder woman in action, just take my hat off for your dedication,beautiful family too.